You scream, I scream, we all scream for less melty ice cream

In Colombia, researchers at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana have found that cellulose fiber extracted from banana plant waste helps slow the dreaded ice cream melt in hot weather.

Led by Dr. Robin Zuluaga Gallego, the team extracted cellulose nanofibrils from rachis, the central stalk of the banana plant. They then added the CNFs in various concentrations to ice cream and measured melting rates. The CNFs also increased the viscosity of low-fat ice cream, helping maintain similar texture to full-fat ice cream.

The work was presented at the recent American Chemical Society meeting in New Orleans and closely follows the findings of scientists at the University of Dundee in Scotland of a naturally occurring protein that also reduced melting rates.